Post by Adrian Taylor on Aug 30, 2006 10:15:11 GMT
For those players who have already played several MP games you will have noticed that Mission Kursk is substantially different from vanilla Blitzkrieg. Other than the obvious sighting and weapon ranges there are significant differences in unit capabilities between Mission Kursk and vanilla Blitzkrieg. Mission Kursk is modeled as closely to actual reality as the game engine allows, vanilla Blitz is not. This means we can select a historical battle using the correct OOB's and be pretty sure that the balance Will be correct with just a little tweaking.
Generally speaking in mid '43 the German armoured units were superior to their Russian counter-parts. The Russians knew this and developed effective tactics to counter the Germans. Pak fronts, defence in depth and close assault with tanks. When creating maps, designers will need to bear this in mind that equal parity did not exist. Thus, balance must be gained elsewhere, either through numbers, defensive terrain or air power.
Infantry:
Germans favour ranged attack with their MG 34's and Mg 42's. While Russians are better equipped at close in assaults using their LMGs and SMG's. Both are still relatively weak at anti-tank work.
Tanks:
The German Panzer III and Panzer IV should be the most numerous with the Panzer III ausf L roughly on par with the Russian T 34.
German Tigers and Panthers were in limited supply and should be used in small groups or as reserves.
German Stugs were common place and very effective, easily capable on taking on several T 34's. The Su 85 is a fair match for the Stug III's, but these were not widely available until after Kursk. The rest of the German SP Guns are pretty run of the mill being on par with the Su 76. The Ferdinand should be treated much like the Tiger, while the heavy Soviet Assault guns ( Su 122 & Su 152) should be used as a counter for the German Heavies but should be more numerous as they are not as effective.
Generally, for every 4 Pz III's use 6 T 34's and 4 T 70's
4 Pz IV's use above but add 4 KV's
Artillery:
For both a/t and Fire support artillery the Russians should out-gun the Germans. Generally the German weapons are superior but lacked ammo and numbers, thus should have a 2 to 1 or at very least 3 to 2 advantage. Also the Russians made good use of their Katyusha's.
Word of warning the German "88" was an extremely effective anti-gun, with superb penetrative power and a high rate of fire. Use it wisely as it will over-balance most maps.
Air Power
The Germans have a slight edge but suffered from lack of numbers, particularly towards the end of Kursk and in the following Russian offensives. Air power is a great leveler for the Russians.
Generally speaking in mid '43 the German armoured units were superior to their Russian counter-parts. The Russians knew this and developed effective tactics to counter the Germans. Pak fronts, defence in depth and close assault with tanks. When creating maps, designers will need to bear this in mind that equal parity did not exist. Thus, balance must be gained elsewhere, either through numbers, defensive terrain or air power.
Infantry:
Germans favour ranged attack with their MG 34's and Mg 42's. While Russians are better equipped at close in assaults using their LMGs and SMG's. Both are still relatively weak at anti-tank work.
Tanks:
The German Panzer III and Panzer IV should be the most numerous with the Panzer III ausf L roughly on par with the Russian T 34.
German Tigers and Panthers were in limited supply and should be used in small groups or as reserves.
German Stugs were common place and very effective, easily capable on taking on several T 34's. The Su 85 is a fair match for the Stug III's, but these were not widely available until after Kursk. The rest of the German SP Guns are pretty run of the mill being on par with the Su 76. The Ferdinand should be treated much like the Tiger, while the heavy Soviet Assault guns ( Su 122 & Su 152) should be used as a counter for the German Heavies but should be more numerous as they are not as effective.
Generally, for every 4 Pz III's use 6 T 34's and 4 T 70's
4 Pz IV's use above but add 4 KV's
Artillery:
For both a/t and Fire support artillery the Russians should out-gun the Germans. Generally the German weapons are superior but lacked ammo and numbers, thus should have a 2 to 1 or at very least 3 to 2 advantage. Also the Russians made good use of their Katyusha's.
Word of warning the German "88" was an extremely effective anti-gun, with superb penetrative power and a high rate of fire. Use it wisely as it will over-balance most maps.
Air Power
The Germans have a slight edge but suffered from lack of numbers, particularly towards the end of Kursk and in the following Russian offensives. Air power is a great leveler for the Russians.